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MikeCifone

Lurker
Jul 14, 2022
28
45
Los Angeles
Welcome aboard, from the Great Lakes State... and like already suggested, sip the pipe and you can avoid tongue bite.
I'm not a fan of cold weather, but now you have me thinking about having a smoke in front of a fire (obviously with a glass of Scotch).
@beardedfancyman well, I hafta travel about 1 to 2 hrs before I get really nice n cold weather (into the mountains here, which, during the "winter" in LA I can see on my way to Burbank, snowcapped -- it's quite a majestic and endlessly fascinating site to behold, I must say). But the nights here, despite the heat death of most of our country right now, are really pleasant and even a bit chilly (in a weird summery kinda way). In any case I've been relaxing at night with the good ol' Peterson De Luxe Navy Rolls -- wow that's some good smoking. After dinner, it's either a nice Balkan (the quality Sasieni that I got from @americaman), or an A+ quality aromatic like Pease's Virginia Cream (that's real quality stuff, despite the fact that I've quickly grown very snotty about the aromatics).

Maybe this is pure newbie insanity, but since I don't like most aromatics, I'm trying to concoct my own based on a strong English blend which I can't quite tolerate. I've chosen to start with the one (otherwise excellent) by Wilke: their Coronado, which is good but is divine when you sweeten it out a bit with some bright Virginias + Perique (Virginia Gentleman by C&D), and add a touch bit more of black cav (a few pinches from an "Evening Cordial" blend from a local shop in Orange County) ... and wow it's dynamite: English Latakia-vanilla-cream magic! I might just have to buy the pure components of this concoction and try to master it to get it just right.

"Aromatic" English with little to no topping = Plato's ideal Tobacco-In-Itself.
 

MikeCifone

Lurker
Jul 14, 2022
28
45
Los Angeles
Welcome from Edinburgh Scotland.
P.s I personally find much less tongue bite with somewhat dried out English blend flake tobaccos . <insert name of any Samuel Gawith or Gawith and Hogarth blend here >
@Bob the bear: the Isles are, for me, like the home of pipe smoking, as in, the very place where the Definition and Model of Pipesmoking exists. Have you come across the YouTube videos of Malcome Guite? If there was ever someone with the spirit of the Shire in the body of a true poet and Man of Letters, it be Malcome. Some of his readings of his poems are really moving -- all in the midst of great swaths of wonderful pipe smoke out of great old pipes. Magical.

In any case thanks kindly for the advice. And, please: can we set up a shipping consortium from you to me, so we can get that elusive Gawith and Hogarth over here to the States? Every damn shop and online emporium is out of the stuff for months. I hear a shipment is due to drop, but I fear I'll only have seconds to grab a fleeting tin...
 

MikeCifone

Lurker
Jul 14, 2022
28
45
Los Angeles
I don't dump until I get maybe halfway down or if I try relighting and can't get a good light I will check the ash as that is the only thing that makes lighting hard for me. . If my pipe goes out before halfway, I will check to see if there is enough ash to dump or do I just need a light tamp and then relight. I hope I am making sense here.
@cigrmaster: ok I am starting to pay attention to the order of operations a bit, since I tend to let things fly by me without thinking (since "thinking" is my job, whenever I'm not on the job, I totally stop thinking: which is letting the philosophy sap the life out of you, rather than letting life inspire the philosophy -- a peculiar occupational hazard if ever there was one).

Thanks again. (And tonight I had success with your method, using Peterson's De Luxe Navy Rolls, so maybe it's also a function of the cut and kind of the tobacco...?)
 

MikeCifone

Lurker
Jul 14, 2022
28
45
Los Angeles
Howdy and welcome from Korea.
Great introduction and all I can say is....6 or 7 bowls a day.....wow! I wish I could find the time. Also appreciate you adding links to the tobaccos you listed in your posts, neat!
My go to is a VaPer, but also appreciate a pure red virginia too. I really should go back and try the English blends again, which I started smoking, but just can't get back into them.
I'm fairly new to pipe smoking, +/- 4 years.
I think that Sablebrush has highlighted remedies to some of the issues that your experiancing, as most of tje old hands will. This really is the place to learn and enjoy the hobby.
happy smoking!
puffy
@Honkytonk Man: thanks so much for dialing in, and hello there from the other side of the Pacific! LA is just over the other pond (15 hours later of course)...

Yes, for English on the lite side try Peterson Early Morning Pipe or even My Mixture. For a silky and moderate English definitely, 1000% try Presbyterian Mixture -- it's a must. I was amazed. The Wilke Co. here (over in the Boston area of the US) makes really quality (bulk tobacco) product and has an extensive line of Englishes, but getting that over to you in Korea would present something of challenge (nothing we couldn't help you with, I'm sure, if you were interested). Now I'm much newer at this than you, so take my advice with a measure of salt -- which is to say be skeptical :)

Happy Piping!
 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,248
57,309
66
Sarasota Florida
@cigrmaster: ok I am starting to pay attention to the order of operations a bit, since I tend to let things fly by me without thinking (since "thinking" is my job, whenever I'm not on the job, I totally stop thinking: which is letting the philosophy sap the life out of you, rather than letting life inspire the philosophy -- a peculiar occupational hazard if ever there was one).

Thanks again. (And tonight I had success with your method, using Peterson's De Luxe Navy Rolls, so maybe it's also a function of the cut and kind of the tobacco...?)
In the beginning you need to really pay attention to each aspect of smoking a bowl of tobacco. Your success with the Dunhill is totally repeatable if you really paid attention. Navy Rolls is not an easy blend to smoke so congrats on your success.

I hear you about not wanting to think so hard about smoking a pipe but we all went through it. Eventually you will begin to get a good smoke every time and you will do it without thinking so much.
 
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H

Hfinn

Guest
Welcome from Almaty!

At the university, I liked attending philosophy and sociology classes, it was exciting. It seems that it was from those times that I began to reflect on the topics of the cognizability of the world and its starting point, whether we are capable of understanding and seeing the whole picture in principle, or all this digging is a meaningless exercise. ?

So that’s a good thing, the main thing is not to break down the brain. ?

PS Do not draw smoke into your lungs, most pipe tobaccos are not designed for deep smoking.